Extract from Scottish Parliament: Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Bill: Stage 1 - Jan 9
Friday, 10 January 2020 07:58
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Humza Yousaf):...I turn first to
the scope of the oversight arrangements that are contained in the
bill. They apply currently to Police Scotland and the Scottish
Police Authority, but I intend to broaden the scope by lodging
amendments at stage 2 to include the Police Investigations and
Review Commissioner, in recognition of the fact that the PIRC
manages biometric data in the course of its investigations. The
Justice Committee will be pleased to hear that I...Request free trial
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice ():...I turn
first to the scope of the oversight arrangements that are contained
in the bill. They apply currently to Police Scotland and the
Scottish Police Authority, but I intend to broaden the scope by
lodging amendments at stage 2 to include the Police Investigations
and Review Commissioner, in recognition of the fact that the PIRC
manages biometric data in the course of its investigations. The
Justice Committee will be pleased to hear that I am also actively
considering the inclusion of cross-border policing bodies such as
the British Transport Police, the Ministry of Defence Police and
the National Crime Agency...
(Central Scotland)
(Con):...The committee agrees that the
Scottish biometrics commissioner should be independent of the
Government, appointed by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body
and should be able to scrutinise biometric processes adopted by all
who provide policing within Scotland and who share biometric data
with Police Scotland including the British Transport Police and
the National Crime Agency...
John Finnie (Highlands and Islands)
(Green):...The bill covers Police Scotland
and the Scottish Police Authority. However, I have been frustrated
by the fact that a number of police services that operate in
Scotland are not accountable to this Parliament. Those include the
British Transport Police and the National Crime Agency, never mind some of
the other UK agencies that it will be more challenging to deal
with. I welcome the fact that the cabinet secretary wants the
British Transport Police and the National Crime Agency to be covered
by the bill, and I wish him luck in getting the UK Government to
agree to the Ministry of Defence Police being covered by it. I hope
that it agrees to that and that people will support the use of
section 104 orders. However, if the UK Government’s agreement to
that is not secured, not all of policing will be covered by the
bill—only the principal police force and the principal holders of
the information will be...
(Strathkelvin and Bearsden)
(SNP):...The committee recommended that, in
relation to their functions in Scotland, the National Crime Agencyand the British
Transport Police be included in the bodies that are set out in
section 7, and asked that the Scottish Government lodge the
necessary amendments at stage 2. The cabinet secretary spoke about
that in his opening speech. I will welcome such amendments...
(Coatbridge and Chryston)
(SNP):... talked about this issue just a
couple of minutes ago and others have raised it, but one of the
areas that the committee focused on was giving consideration to the
scope of the commissioner. The committee recommended that
the National Crime Agency and the British
Transport Police be included among the bodies that are set out in
section 7(1) and section 3. I note in the response from the
Scottish Government that it is considering the inclusion of those
bodies as well as the Ministry of Defence Police, and that
discussions are on-going. The cabinet secretary stated that a
section 104 order under the Scotland Act 1998 would be the most
appropriate mechanism for conferring duties on such bodies and that
it is not possible to introduce that as a stage 2 amendment. I
welcome that Government response, because the area was one of the
more debated aspects in our consideration of the bill at stage 1,
and I feel that the Government response has brought clarity to
it...
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